Before you begin to read please note that I wrote this after work and that the spell check was checking for German spelling as the website automatically goes to the Germany version of blogspot, that being said the grammer and spelling in this story are probably going to be awful. Enjoy!
At 7:25am Julia watches her bus pass before her eyes before she has the chance to catch it. Fortunitaly she was planning on taking her bike along anyway and not wanting to miss her connecting tram she ignores the rain that is beginning to fall and mounts her bike to start heading down the hill toward the train station. As she begins her way there she notices the wind is not as strong has she had feared however still worried about the ever increasing amounts of rain she hunches her shouders down and trys to use the easy down hill slope to hurry toward the train station and to get out from under the looming clouds as quickly as she can.
After arriving at the train station and dragging her bike down and up the stairs to the proper platform she pulls off her coat,now safe under the roof from the now heavy rain. Dispite the fact that she had previously had her hood up her brow is still dampened from the rain and she can only imagine how discheveled she looks. Then noticing her reflection in the window from the train across the tracks her worries are confirmed and she can see that she looks as flustered as she feels. Her hair is curling in every direction from the humidty, there is a small rain patch on her tshirt from where her rain coat wasnt fully done up, her hands and elbow are scraped from when she fell of her bike trying the cross the tram tracks on the way to the station and the bike with her is about 2 sizes to big and an awful kelly green. Thankfully the train pulls out of the station and she doesnt have time to look further into her rather lack luster apperence. "What does it matter anyway, its not like the chickens will notice" she thinks to herself as her tram pulls up in front.
The Sbahn only takes about fifteen mins to get to the town she needs to be in and so for fifteen minutes Julia struggels to keep her bike upright and read her book at the same time. As she again struggels to get her bike down the stair off the train, and down the street, once arriving in the correct town, she begins to wonder whether or not this bike was such a good idea but dispite her small annoyance toward her bike she pedels forward toward Ruth's house.
Ruth is a mother of 2 and the wife to an apple and cow farmer. Julia met Ruth as Ruth was an organizer for her europian exchange program. Julia, living in a simple dorm about 45 mins away, often came to visit Ruth, to be with a family and to explore around her farm. On her last visit to Ruth's house Julia stumbled upon a chicken coop. Having been there many times before she was surprised she had never heard of them and at dinner, later that day, she asked about the chickens she had stumbled upon. From there she was informed that the chickens belonged to Ruth's inlaws (whom live in the lower level of the divided house) however the chickens would not be there much longer as they were to be slaughted in the next few weeks. Julia was very intreaged in hearing this. She had heard from others in her program how it was to kill turkeys and wanted to see what it was like first hand to be apart of such a process. Julia could tell Ruth was a little taken aback after she asked is she could to come and help, but despite her surprise Ruth told her she was more than welcome to come and help, first clarifying, that her inlaws would be helping slaughtering a neighbors chickens at the farm next Wednesday, should Julia be interested in coming then. And so the date was set and Julia would come Wednesday morning to help or more likely watch the killing of 19 chickens.
The rain was only a slight drizzel as Julia made the short way to Ruth's farm from the train station and she was beginning to be thankful she didnt have time for breakfast that morning, as her stomach had started to churn with nerves and thoughts of what she was about to do. Pedeling her bike faster to try and shake the nerves and sudden rush of adrenaline she was feeling she got to the farm earlier than expected and, had time to go up and say hi to Ruth and the kids before she was to head to barn to meet the chickens. Ruth helped calm Julia's nerves a little and after hearing Ruth's three year old, Rahel, talk about slaughtering like it was no big deal Julia realised her nerves were rather silly and by the time she was walking toward the Barn with Ruth and Rahel she had seem to have hidden her nerves away for the moment. In the barn Julia was introduced to the neighbor couple who was there with their chickens and said hello to the grandparents of which she had often seen around the farm. Before the proper Guten Morgen's (good morning in german) were exchanged a chicken was being pulled from its small coop and batted on the head with a stick to make it easier to cut the throat. The nerves which Julia thought she had to strategically hiden away came out, only this time they were accompanied with a quick gag reflex. Again Julia was happy to have skipped breakfast this particular morning.
Before she knew it she was in the middle of a small side room equiped with a sink, a counter and a defeathering machine with dead headless chickens on every surface in all different stages of the slaughtering process. By this time the two grandmothers (Ruth's mother inlaw and the wife of the neighbor couple) were there pluking out the feathers that had been missed by the machine, cutting off the feet and cleaning out the inards. They both chatted and gossiped as if they were out for coffee and cake, completely ignoring the foot, stomach ... or whatever other body part of a chicken seemed to be in their hand at that time. They went on chatting only stopping every once and a while to laugh at Julia who at this point was trying to help pluk out the feathers but had to stop at 15 second intervals to shake out the goose bumps that kept crawling up her spine when she pulled out a particularly stubern feather.
Slowly over the next two and a half hours Julia started to loosen up and actually started to be of some value to the two couples completing the slaughtering. She was pulling out the feathers without hesitation however never forgetting just how odd this all was to her.
Wanting to take this rather unique opportunity to its full potential Julia found herself between the two old women with a knive in her hand learning how to get the inards out, pulling out the fat and seperating the organs into those that are to be eaten and those to been thrown away. At first it was more than she bargined for, for here right in the middle of the room the stench of the chickens was much stronger then how it was when she was by the door (where she had been place earlier in case the need for a small break was in order). Also realising her whole hand must go inside the chicken and that the heart and lungs had to be torn out rather than just pulled out she had to take a few seconds to put her stomach back in it place for it felt like it had gone into her throat. A few chickens later she was able to cut and gut the chickens, not yet with ease but with a sence of pride knowing she wasn't completely doing things wrong. However as every chicken went by she knew she would soon have to get back on that damed bike and catch her train back to her house and back to her 12pm shift.
The time went quickly before she needed to leave, the last few chickens were being pluked and cleaned while the floor was being sweeped and cleaned of feathers and blood. Julia gladly helped right till the very end but as the chickenes were being loaded into the back of the neighbor's car she was happy to hear Ruth call, from the upstair balcony, that she had better go to catch her train.
Julia ran quickly to the outdoor sink, where the farm boys would normaly clean their hands before lunch, and scrubed her hands free of blood. Wiping her hands dry on her jeans she hunched on her coat and said a quick goodbye to the grandparents and to Ruth.And As she got on her bike and rounded the corner off the drive way she didnt mind the rain that still drizzeled on as she hoped it might rinse off any blood she might have missed.
The End
Some wonderful quotes from the day that I will very roughly translate into english:
"The chickens still warm, which is nice, it keeps your hands warm while you pull the guts out."
" Now you want to cut out the hole where the shit comes out first."
"Did you want to try and cut the head of this one?"
"Hear you can work by the door incase you need to... get some fresh air" (I think they thought I was going to puke)
"Let me clean the knife first." (rinses the knife with water that is red from blood) "ok much better"
Today: kill chickens, work, so tired, munich this weekend!!
At 7:25am Julia watches her bus pass before her eyes before she has the chance to catch it. Fortunitaly she was planning on taking her bike along anyway and not wanting to miss her connecting tram she ignores the rain that is beginning to fall and mounts her bike to start heading down the hill toward the train station. As she begins her way there she notices the wind is not as strong has she had feared however still worried about the ever increasing amounts of rain she hunches her shouders down and trys to use the easy down hill slope to hurry toward the train station and to get out from under the looming clouds as quickly as she can.
After arriving at the train station and dragging her bike down and up the stairs to the proper platform she pulls off her coat,now safe under the roof from the now heavy rain. Dispite the fact that she had previously had her hood up her brow is still dampened from the rain and she can only imagine how discheveled she looks. Then noticing her reflection in the window from the train across the tracks her worries are confirmed and she can see that she looks as flustered as she feels. Her hair is curling in every direction from the humidty, there is a small rain patch on her tshirt from where her rain coat wasnt fully done up, her hands and elbow are scraped from when she fell of her bike trying the cross the tram tracks on the way to the station and the bike with her is about 2 sizes to big and an awful kelly green. Thankfully the train pulls out of the station and she doesnt have time to look further into her rather lack luster apperence. "What does it matter anyway, its not like the chickens will notice" she thinks to herself as her tram pulls up in front.
The Sbahn only takes about fifteen mins to get to the town she needs to be in and so for fifteen minutes Julia struggels to keep her bike upright and read her book at the same time. As she again struggels to get her bike down the stair off the train, and down the street, once arriving in the correct town, she begins to wonder whether or not this bike was such a good idea but dispite her small annoyance toward her bike she pedels forward toward Ruth's house.
Ruth is a mother of 2 and the wife to an apple and cow farmer. Julia met Ruth as Ruth was an organizer for her europian exchange program. Julia, living in a simple dorm about 45 mins away, often came to visit Ruth, to be with a family and to explore around her farm. On her last visit to Ruth's house Julia stumbled upon a chicken coop. Having been there many times before she was surprised she had never heard of them and at dinner, later that day, she asked about the chickens she had stumbled upon. From there she was informed that the chickens belonged to Ruth's inlaws (whom live in the lower level of the divided house) however the chickens would not be there much longer as they were to be slaughted in the next few weeks. Julia was very intreaged in hearing this. She had heard from others in her program how it was to kill turkeys and wanted to see what it was like first hand to be apart of such a process. Julia could tell Ruth was a little taken aback after she asked is she could to come and help, but despite her surprise Ruth told her she was more than welcome to come and help, first clarifying, that her inlaws would be helping slaughtering a neighbors chickens at the farm next Wednesday, should Julia be interested in coming then. And so the date was set and Julia would come Wednesday morning to help or more likely watch the killing of 19 chickens.
The rain was only a slight drizzel as Julia made the short way to Ruth's farm from the train station and she was beginning to be thankful she didnt have time for breakfast that morning, as her stomach had started to churn with nerves and thoughts of what she was about to do. Pedeling her bike faster to try and shake the nerves and sudden rush of adrenaline she was feeling she got to the farm earlier than expected and, had time to go up and say hi to Ruth and the kids before she was to head to barn to meet the chickens. Ruth helped calm Julia's nerves a little and after hearing Ruth's three year old, Rahel, talk about slaughtering like it was no big deal Julia realised her nerves were rather silly and by the time she was walking toward the Barn with Ruth and Rahel she had seem to have hidden her nerves away for the moment. In the barn Julia was introduced to the neighbor couple who was there with their chickens and said hello to the grandparents of which she had often seen around the farm. Before the proper Guten Morgen's (good morning in german) were exchanged a chicken was being pulled from its small coop and batted on the head with a stick to make it easier to cut the throat. The nerves which Julia thought she had to strategically hiden away came out, only this time they were accompanied with a quick gag reflex. Again Julia was happy to have skipped breakfast this particular morning.
Before she knew it she was in the middle of a small side room equiped with a sink, a counter and a defeathering machine with dead headless chickens on every surface in all different stages of the slaughtering process. By this time the two grandmothers (Ruth's mother inlaw and the wife of the neighbor couple) were there pluking out the feathers that had been missed by the machine, cutting off the feet and cleaning out the inards. They both chatted and gossiped as if they were out for coffee and cake, completely ignoring the foot, stomach ... or whatever other body part of a chicken seemed to be in their hand at that time. They went on chatting only stopping every once and a while to laugh at Julia who at this point was trying to help pluk out the feathers but had to stop at 15 second intervals to shake out the goose bumps that kept crawling up her spine when she pulled out a particularly stubern feather.
Slowly over the next two and a half hours Julia started to loosen up and actually started to be of some value to the two couples completing the slaughtering. She was pulling out the feathers without hesitation however never forgetting just how odd this all was to her.
Wanting to take this rather unique opportunity to its full potential Julia found herself between the two old women with a knive in her hand learning how to get the inards out, pulling out the fat and seperating the organs into those that are to be eaten and those to been thrown away. At first it was more than she bargined for, for here right in the middle of the room the stench of the chickens was much stronger then how it was when she was by the door (where she had been place earlier in case the need for a small break was in order). Also realising her whole hand must go inside the chicken and that the heart and lungs had to be torn out rather than just pulled out she had to take a few seconds to put her stomach back in it place for it felt like it had gone into her throat. A few chickens later she was able to cut and gut the chickens, not yet with ease but with a sence of pride knowing she wasn't completely doing things wrong. However as every chicken went by she knew she would soon have to get back on that damed bike and catch her train back to her house and back to her 12pm shift.
The time went quickly before she needed to leave, the last few chickens were being pluked and cleaned while the floor was being sweeped and cleaned of feathers and blood. Julia gladly helped right till the very end but as the chickenes were being loaded into the back of the neighbor's car she was happy to hear Ruth call, from the upstair balcony, that she had better go to catch her train.
Julia ran quickly to the outdoor sink, where the farm boys would normaly clean their hands before lunch, and scrubed her hands free of blood. Wiping her hands dry on her jeans she hunched on her coat and said a quick goodbye to the grandparents and to Ruth.And As she got on her bike and rounded the corner off the drive way she didnt mind the rain that still drizzeled on as she hoped it might rinse off any blood she might have missed.
The End
Some wonderful quotes from the day that I will very roughly translate into english:
"The chickens still warm, which is nice, it keeps your hands warm while you pull the guts out."
" Now you want to cut out the hole where the shit comes out first."
"Did you want to try and cut the head of this one?"
"Hear you can work by the door incase you need to... get some fresh air" (I think they thought I was going to puke)
"Let me clean the knife first." (rinses the knife with water that is red from blood) "ok much better"
Today: kill chickens, work, so tired, munich this weekend!!
why am i not surprised that you were in there like a dirty shirt?!?
ReplyDeletei LOVE getting your updates and can't wait to have a drink on the dock with you when you get home in august and talk about all the growing up we've both done over the last year!
love,
robin